"'Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.' This is how I’ll remember Tony," Obama wrote. "He taught us about food—but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him."

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“Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.” This is how I’ll remember Tony. He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him. pic.twitter.com/orEXIaEMZM

Obama shared a photo of the two during a Vietnam episode of the chef's CNN series Parts Unknown. In a 2016 interview with Esquire, Bourdain explained that his crew had worked on the episode secretly for months.

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A post shared by anthonybourdain (@anthonybourdain) on May 24, 2016 at 11:42pm PDT

"The President was very loose, very unconcerned. We didn't receive any briefing or guidance or anything like that from the network or the White House as far as what we'd talk about or what we should or shouldn't do," Bourdain said. "He really put everyone at ease. He turned to the camera crew at one point, and he said, 'Do you guys eat? Do you get some of this? Does this guy feed you?' Nobody ever asks that of the camera crew."

Former White House photographer Pete Souza posted a photo from the trip on Friday morning, writing: "There was such energy being in his presence."

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In the Esquire interview, Bourdain described the reaction in Hanoi after they filmed the episode.

"They'd see the tattoos on my arms and look at me and say, 'Mr. Bún chả !' he said. "They would come up to me absolutely in tears, thrilled that the President had chosen to eat Bún chả, which is a specifically Hanoian thing, that he wasn't eating at a formal banquet. Someone said to me [they] would've expected spring rolls or pho. But to see him eat Bún chả—they were enormously proud and moved."

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